St. Catharines-Niagara Housing Starts to Move Slightly Lower in 2011

St. Catharines-Niagara Housing Starts to Move Slightly Lower in 2011

TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – Nov. 17, 2010) – Both the new and resale home markets are expected to recover gradually throughout 2011, according to the 2010 Fall Housing Market Outlook report for the St. Catharines-Niagara Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), released today by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). Reports are also available for other major metropolitan areas across the country.

Highlights of the report include:

Existing home sales will moderate slightly in the St. Catharines-Niagara CMA, reaching 5,700 units in 2011. After trending lower in the latter part of 2010, sales will flatten out in early 2011 before rising through the second half of the year.

While prices have eased in recent months, prices should stabilize before growing through 2011.

Starts in 2011 will be down five per cent to 1,000 units as new home construction will be impacted by the resale market cool-off in the latter part of 2010.

“As economic and employment conditions improve, home buying activity will gradually recover in 2011 compared to the current low demand for homes,” said Ashot Karapetyan, Market Analyst for St. Catherines-Niagara. “Still, on an annual basis, both starts and existing home sales in 2011 will be slightly lower compared to 2010. Housing demand during the early part of 2010 was elevated by home buyers ‘borrowing’ sales from 2009 and early 2011 which resulted in higher than usual housing activity,” added Karapetyan.

“While Ontario home sales and prices have moderated since early this year, Ontario housing activity is now more in line with economic conditions. This ensures more stability in housing markets in the months ahead,” said Ted Tsiakopoulos, CMHC’s Ontario Regional Economist. “This transition in housing activity has been orderly thanks to improving job markets and historically low interest rates.”

As Canada’s national housing agency, CMHC draws on more than 60 years of experience to help Canadians access a variety of quality, environmentally sustainable and affordable homes. CMHC also provides reliable, impartial and up-to-date housing market reports, analysis and knowledge to support and assist consumers and the housing industry in making vital decisions.

For more information, please visit www.cmhc.ca or call 1-800-668-2642.